NRL State Championship

NRL State Championship
Sport Rugby league
Instituted 2014
Inaugural season 2014
Countries  Australia
 New Zealand
 Papua New Guinea
Premiers Illawarra Cutters
New South Wales Cup (2016)
Most titles
Website www.NRL.com
Broadcast partner
Related competition

The National Rugby League State Championship is contested between the winners of the New South Wales Cup and the Queensland Cup and is organised by the NRL. It was introduced for the 2014 NRL season and was played immediately before the 2014 NRL Grand Final at Stadium Australia.

History

The origins of the NRL State Championship can be traced back 30 years to an idea from the Queensland media during the 1984 season of the Brisbane Rugby League when two of the greatest club sides Australia has ever seen had agreed to play a one-off match. These were the days when the New South Wales and the Queensland Rugby League competitions operated independently of each other with the only exception being State of Origin time, when players crossed paths. While the New South Wales media's general consensus was always that Sydney based NSWRL was the premier and stronger of the two major rugby league competition, all seemed to be set for the one-off match before the NSWRL hierarchy stepped in and put a stop to the proposed match.

The 1984 BRL Wynnum-Manly Seagulls team was unquestionably Queensland's best, the team defeated a Southern Suburbs Districts Magpies side coached by Wayne Bennett and boasting names such as Gary Belcher, Mal Meninga, Peter Jackson, Bob Lindner in the 1984 BRL Grand Final by a record 42-8 scoreline. Many supporters north of the border believe they were also better than the 1984 NSWRL champion team the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs from Sydney. The Brisbane media were so confident about the strength of this super Wynnum side that they suggested a challenge match between the Seagulls and the Sydney Premiers Canterbury Bankstown.

But if the suggestion is that the NSWRL were the roadblock, Canterbury prop Peter Tunks said the Bulldogs players and officials were just as keen to make the game happen as their northern rivals. "There was talk in the media about it and we were keen to play it because they obviously had a pretty good side with Wally, Gene Miles, Greg Dowling but we loved playing anybody back in those days," Tunks said. "We knew that it was a decent comp in Brisbane but we obviously didn't think it was as strong as the Sydney comp because this was the be-all and end-all. "At Canterbury, we really loved a challenge and we would have loved the opportunity of going up against a team full of great players like they had. It's like anything, to be the best you have to beat the best and that was our attitude but unfortunately it didn't come off. I don't know where we were supposed to play but it would have been good fun."[1][2]

The NRL State Championship is marketed as "The best New South Wales club verses the best Queensland club". However, In both the New South Wales & Queensland Cup's there are clubs based outside there respective states:

In 2014 the Northern Pride representing the Queensland Cup defeated the Penrith Panthers representing the New South Wales Cup in the first NRL State Championship Final.

Results

From 2014 New South Wales Cup Premiers will play against the Queensland Cup Premiers as a Curtain-raiser match on NRL Grand Final day, with the winner to be crowned the NRL State Champions. The match is played after the NRL National Youth Competition Grand Final and before the NRL Grand Final.[3][4]

Season Grand Final Information Man-of-the-Match Medalist
Premiers Score Runners-Up Venue Crowd Player Club
2014[5] Northern Pride
2014 QLD Cup Premiers		 32-28 Penrith Panthers
2014 NSW Cup Premiers 		Stadium Australia 83,833 (C-R) Javid Bowen Northern Pride
2015[6] Ipswich Jets
2015 QLD Cup Premiers		 26-12 Newcastle Knights
2015 NSW Cup Premiers 		Stadium Australia 82,758 (C-R) Matt Parcell Ipswich Jets
2016[7] Illawarra Cutters
2016 NSW Cup Premiers		 54–12 Burleigh Bears
2016 QLD Cup Premiers 		Stadium Australia 83,625 (C-R) Drew Hutchison Illawarra Cutters

Champions

New South Wales Cup

Queensland Cup

Live media coverage

Live Television Coverage is currently broadcast by Australia's Fox Sports & Nine Network (including Nine's regional affiliates NBN Television, WIN Television & Imparja Television until 2015).[8] While live Radio Coverage is currently broadcast by Australia's ABC Grandstand around Australia via both the ABC Radio Mobile App (Digital Radio Stadion) and their network of FM & AM Local Radio Stations.[9]

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/7/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.